Nessa > Nessa's Quotes

“In what manner does the countenace of the sky at the moment of a man's birth determine his character? It acts on the person during his life in the manner of the loops which a peasant ties at random around the pumpkins in his field: they do not cause the pumpkin to grow, but they determine its shape. The same applies to the sky: it does not endow man with his habits, history, happiness, children, riches, or a wife, but it moulds his condition....”
― Johannes Kepler

“The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of the two foci.”
― Johannes Kepler

“If my false figures came near to the facts, this happened merely by chance....These comments are not worth printing. Yet it gives me pleasure to remember how many detours I had to make, along how many walls I had to grope in the darkness of my ignorance until I found the door which lets in the light of truth....In such manner did I dream of the truth.”
― Johannes Kepler

“Ships and sails proper for the heavely air should be fashioned." Johannes Kepler to Galileo 1609”
― Johannes Kepler

“I used to measure the skies, now I measure the shadows of Earth.
Sky-bound was the mind, earthbound the body rests.”
― Johannes Kepler

“I believe Divine Providence arranged matters in such a way that what I could not obtain with all my efforts was given to me through chance; I believe all the more that this is so as I have always prayed to God that he should make my plan succeed, if what Copernicus had said was the truth.”
― Johannes Kepler

“We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens... The diversity of the phenomena of Nature is so great and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking for fresh nourishment.”
― Johannes Kepler

“We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens. The diversity of the phenomena of Nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.”
― Johannes Kepler

“The harnessing to a rational pursuit of the immense psychic energies derived from an irrational obsession seems to be another secret of genius, at least of genius of a certain type.”
― Johannes Kepler

“I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure. Sky-bound was the mind, Earth-bound the body rests.”
― Johannes Kepler

“And I cherish more than anything else the Analogies, my most trustworthy masters. They know all the secrets of Nature, and they ought to be least neglected in Geometry.”
― Johannes Kepler

“before the origin of things, geometry was coeternal with the Divine Mind”
― Johannes Kepler

“…   not my own opinion, but my wife’s: Yesterday, when weary with writing, I was called to supper, and a salad I had asked for was set before me. ‘It seems then,’ I said, ‘if pewter dishes, leaves of lettuce, grains of salt, drops of water, vinegar, oil and slices of eggs had been flying about in the air for all eternity, it might at last happen by chance that there would come a salad.’ ‘Yes,’ responded my lovely, ‘but not so nice as this one of mine.”
― Johannes Kepler

“I have consummated the work to which I pledged myself, using all the abilities that You (God) gave me; I have shown the glory of Your works to men, but if I have pursued my own glory among men while engaged in a work intended for Your glory, be merciful, be compassionate, and forgive.”
― Johannes Kepler

“Sky-bound was the mind, Earth-bound the body rests”
― Johannes Kepler

“I used to measure the heavens
Now the Earth's shadows I measure
My mind was in the heavens,
Now the shadow of my body rests here”
― Johannes Kepler

“If there is anything that can bind the mind of man to this dreary exile of our earthly home and can reconcile us with our fate so that one can enjoy living,—then it is verily the enjoyment of the mathematical sciences and astronomy.”
― Johannes Kepler

“Priusquam autem ad creationem, hoc est ad finem omnis disputationis, veniamus: tentanda omnia existimo.

However, before we come to [special] creation, which puts an end to all discussion: I think we should try everything else.”
― Johannes Kepler, Johannes Kepler New Astronomy

“I too play with symbols... but I play in such a way that I do not forget that I am playing. For nothing is proved by symbols... unless by sure reasons it can be demonstrated that they are not merely symbolic but are descriptions of the ways in which the two things are connected and of the causes of this connection.”
― Johannes Kepler

“The Earth is round, and is inhabited on all sides, is insignificantly small, and is borne through the stars.”
― Johannes Kepler

“After the birth of printing books became widespread. Hence everyone throughout Europe devoted himself to the study of literature... Every year, especially since 1563, the number of writings published in every field is greater than all those produced in the past thousand years. The Paracelsians have created medicine anew and the Copernicans have created astronomy anew. I really believe that at last the world is alive, indeed seething, and that the stimuli of these remarkable conjunctions did not act in vain.”
― Johannes Kepler

“Now because 18 months ago the first dawn, 3 months ago broad daylight but a very few days ago the full sun of the most highly remarkable spectacle has risen — nothing holds me back. I can give myself up to the sacred frenzy, I can have the insolence to make a full confession to mortal men that I have stolen the golden vessel of the Egyptians to make from them a tabernacle for my God far from the confines of the land of Egypt. If you forgive me I shall rejoice; if you are angry, I shall bear it; I am indeed casting the die and writing the book, either for my contemporaries or for posterity to read, it matters not which: let the book await its reader for a hundred years; God himself has waited six thousand years for his work to be seen.”
― Johannes Kepler, Harmonies of the World

“The treasures hidden in the heavens are so rich that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.”
― Johannes Kepler

“Nature uses as little as possible of anything.”
― Johannes Kepler

“The soul of the newly born baby is marked for life by the pattern of the stars at the moment it comes into the world, unconsciously remembers it, and remains sensitive to the return of configurations of a similar kind.”
― Johannes Kepler, Harmonies of the World

“Discover the force of the skies O Men: once recognised it can be put to use.”
― Johannes Kepler, Epitome of Copernican Astronomy and Harmonies of the World

“When ships to sail the void between the stars have been built, there will step forth men to sail these ships.”
― Johannes Kepler

“I used to measure the skies, now I measure the shadows of Earth.
Although my mind was sky-bound, the shadow of my body lies here.

[Epitaph he composed for himself a few months before he died]”
― Johannes Kepler

“Geometry has two great treasures; one is the Theorem of Pythagoras; the other, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel.”
― Johannes Kepler

“Temporis filia veritas; cui me obstetricari non pudet.

Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.”
― Johannes Kepler